Time Warner Refines $1.4B Bid For Endemol

The amount is the same as Time Warner’s previous offer for the reality TV producer. But the entertainment giant now tells Endemol that it’s willing to pay all cash — not a combination of cash and debt — if the company wants. Endemol execs had made no secret of their disdain for Time Warner’s previous bid, which one insider referred to as “rock bottom.” The revised offer comes as Endemol approaches its December 13 deadline for a debt-for-equity swap designed to reduce the company’s debt to $670M from $3.7B. Once that happens, the company could be put up for auction. But the situation is complicated: One of Endemol’s biggest shareholders — Italy’s Mediaset, controlled by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi — is also interested in buying the producer of shows including Big Brother, and Deal Or No Deal. It has said that it would not participate in an auction. Apollo Management, Centerbridge, and Providence Equity Partners and banks including Barclays and RBS are among Endemol’s biggest creditors.